After the tremendously successful first tour we’re going back in 2018 for our two centre nine day tour exploring the Kaçkar Mountains in northeast Turkey for a wonderful array of butterflies with Dr Martin Warren!

Holiday Guide

Dr Martin Warren is one of Europe’s leading butterfly ecologists, having studied butterflies for over 40 years. Following a research career at London and Cambridge, Martin became a butterfly specialist with the Nature Conservancy Council before joining Butterfly Conservation as their first Conservation Officer in 1993. Later, as Chief Executive, he helped the charity grow to become the largest insect NGO in the world with over 75 staff and 30,000 members.

Martin has published over 300 scientific papers and reports, and is co-author of several books, including the Red Data Book of European butterflies and the Climatic Risk Atlas of European butterflies. In 2004, he helped found Butterfly Conservation Europe which now has over 40 partner organisations in 35 countries across Europe. In 2007 Martin won the Marsh Award for Insect Conservation from the Royal Entomological Society and has been voted in the top 10 British conservationists by BBC Wildlife Magazine. He has a wealth of knowledge about European butterflies which he is keen to use to inspire people to enjoy and conserve these amazing insects.

Join butterfly expert Dr Martin Warren for an exploration of the Kaçkar Mountains! Vastly experienced and knowledgeable local guide & expert on the regions flora Yasemin Konuralp will accompany us to assist in discovering some of the areas best butterfly and wildlife treasures!

The Kaçkar mountains rise steeply from Turkey’s Black Sea coast and are an extension of the Caucasus mountains which are considered by the World Wild Fund for Nature and by Conservation International as a biodiversity hotspot. The Çoruh valley lies at the very heart of the Kaçkar. Steep-sided valleys, alpine meadows, river-side vegetation, Mediterranean habitats, all contribute to a diversity of habitats that account for the formidable list of more than 140 butterflies that reside in the area – we recorded 134 on our first tour in 2017!

Turkish flora is incredibly rich, with 11466 species, 3650 of which are endemic. This diversity stems principally from country`s geographical position, sandwiched between the steps of Central Asia, the deserts of Syria, the cold afforested mountains of Central Europe, and the Mediterranean to the west. The unspoilt area we’ll visit is very rich botanically, with many species of Campanula, Gentians, Centaurea, Dianthus, Silene,Digitalis exotic Acantholimon, beautiful Papaver and many others.

The many habitats of the Kackar support a rich diversity of birds.The lower valleys host Blue Rock Thrush, Rollers and Bee-eaters. Streams support Grey and White Wagtails, Dippers and Common Sandpipers.Forests and Mountain hillsides are home to Tree Pipits, Rosefinches, Redstarts, Chukar, Red-Backed Shrikes, Red-Fronted Serins, Ring Ouzels, Ortolan Buntings, Rock Thrushes, Kruper’s Nuthatch, Short-toed Treecreeper and no less than 7 species of Woodpeckers. Birds of prey such as Buzzards, Honey-Buzzards, Long-legged Buzzard,Griffon and Black Vultures, Golden Eagles and Lammergeier may be seen soaring over the valleys.

Accompanying us will be Yasemin Konuralp, who has over 20 years experience in guiding tours in Turkey. During that time she has built up considerable knowledge about the endemic wildflowers of the country, which has culminated into a Wildflowers of Turkey field guide, published in 2013.

We hope to welcome you on what will be a truly memorable tour!

Day 1: Arrival at Erzurum airport. If time permits we’ll do a short local excursion. Overnight in Erzurum.

Day 2: Transfer to Barhal in the Coruh valley, stopping on the way to look for butterflies. We shall pass through different habitats, initially dry and becoming greener as we move up the valley, each with its different butterfly species. We shall investigate the Bahceli valley to look for Little Tiger blue, Tarucus balkanicus, Grass Jewel, Chilades trochylus, White-bordered Grayling, Hipparchia parisatis, Nettle-Tree butterfly, Libythea celtis, Brown Argus, Aricia agestis, Scarce swallowtail, Iiphiclidespodalirius and another of the specialities of the region, the Orange Hermit, Chazara bischoffii. The dry terrain at the beginning of the valley hosts plants typical of this habitat such as Dianthus orientalis, with its characteristic propeller-shaped petals, Andrachne telephioides, the food plant of the Grass Jewel and Paliurusspina-christi, the food plant of the Little Tiger Blue. Overnight in Barhal village.

Day 4: We spend the day following the river along its course through the valley. We hope to see Turkish Fiery Copper Lycaena ochimus, Gerard’s Black Hairstreak, Blue-Spot Hairstreak Satyrium spini, Zephyr Blue Plebejus pylaon, Loew’s Blue Plebejus loewii, Aedon Blue Phengaris alcon, Eros Blue Polyommatuseros, Meleager’s Blue Meleageria daphnis, High Brown Fritillary Fabriciana adippe, Silver-Washed Fritillary Argynnis paphia &White-letter Hairstreak, Satyrium w-album. The Çoruh River is home to two special Campanulas, Campanula troegerae and the similar looking but very rare Campanula choruhensis. Both are large-flowered beautiful species growing on the vertical walls of the gorge and we shall look for both. A number of Salvia species such as S. nemorosa and S. verticillata are common along the roadsides. Overnight in Barhal village.